Anni Karppinen

Anni has worked with MFC since 2008, first at the Aalto University and the last two years at Borregaard as a research scientist. In her current work, she concentrates on the analysis of MFC and different technical applications. Her main interest lies in the flow properties and rheology of MFC. Anni has a doctoral degree in Polymer Technology.

Recent Posts

Governments around the world are pushing industries to reduce their volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions. VOCs include very different type of chemicals but they may be dangerous to human health and therefore there is a common desire to reduce the use of them. Health effects vary from eye, nose and throat irritation to causing cancer.

Microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) differs from many rheology modifiers in that aspect that it can be used in high salinity formulations. The rheology effect comes from entangled fibers and salts do not influence this network as it does when the rheology effect is based on ionic interactions. However, the viscosity and other rheological properties vary slightly as a function of salt concentration. Let’s take a closer look at the reasons behind this.

Three dimensional (3D) printing and tissue engineering are two fields that are currently developing rapidly and are both exciting technologies on their own. What if you combine them? That creates a new manufacturing process, bioprinting. It is a promising technology that might be the key to the on-demand tissue engineering. Microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) or nanocellulosic materials generally have an important role in the development.

Microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) has shown great potential as an oxygen barrier in packaging. This has led to numerous research projects trying to utilize the potential in practice. But how does MFC actually create the barrier towards oxygen?

Oil recovery with all different operations is a fascinating field for a rheologist since so versatile rheological properties are required in the processes. Microfibrillated cellulose has been recognized as potential green, safe rheology modifier for the oil recovery industry. Why is that?

Making foams, in other words introducing gas in a solid or liquid, is needed in industries like construction, composites, home care and personal care. Solid foam is a clever way to produce lightweight structures and insulation materials, whereas many personal care and detergent formulations are required to form a liquid foam. To produce solid foams, you need a blowing agent which introduces gas bubbles in the solid and a solid (often a polymer) that hardens around them. Liquid foams are mainly created by using surfactants and mixing air in. Earlier on this blog, we have explained how microfibrillated cellulose can be used for creating bubble-free gel coats. Could it also help forming intentional foam structures?

From time to time I get comments from people interested in microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) that they cannot dissolve the product, and the formulation remains hazy no matter how much they mix. Alternatively, they ask how low the concentration needs to be to get a transparent formulation. The answer to these questions is that microfibrillated cellulose does not dissolve in water (or in common solvents) which means that it does not make a transparent solution, no matter how much it is mixed or how low concentration is used. There is no need to worry, however; the non-dissolved fibers are the key factor to the interesting behavior of MFC. Let’s look at the translucency of MFC in more detail.

Effective pest control is an essential part of modern food production. Different pesticide products, like herbicides, fungicides, and insecticides, are used to ensure healthy growth of the crop and efficient land use. In addition to the active ingredient in the pesticide, auxiliary components can be added to the pesticide formulation or separately to the spray tank. These auxiliary elements are also called adjuvants, and they are used to ensure the effect of pesticides in different environmental conditions. Typically adjuvants can improve the biological activity of the herbicides by, for instance, reducing spray drift, increasing the wetting of the plant surface or enhancing the uptake of the herbicide into the plant leaves. Let me present two cases where microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) can help to improve the performance of pesticides.

Developing a new kind of material is fascinating work and requires many innovations before the product is available for the market. One important part of the development work is to find analysis methods t for characterizing the quality. Those methods should ideally describe the material well but also be reproducible and reliable. Often this is ensured by using standard methods, but for new materials, like microfibrillated cellulose (MFC), they do not exist yet. Even though some work has been initiated by Canadian Standards Association (Z5100-14 Cellulosic nanomaterials – Test methods for characterization) and TAPPI, there are no proper guidelines for analysis of MFC yet. As a guidance to those unfamiliar with microfibrillated cellulose, I will share my tips for a reliable, reproducible analysis of MFC.

Cosmetic products are one of the most exciting application areas for microfibrillated cellulose (MFC). The opportunities within this field are almost endless as Mr. Rainer Kröpke from Cosmacon GmbH has learned when working with MFC in cosmetic applications. Mr. Kröpke has a long experience in formulating cosmetic products first at Beiersdorf (Germany) and since 2012 as a consultant. Read below his interview where he shares his experiences with all our blog readers.

A blog from Borregaard

Exilva is Borregaard’s innovative new additive within the field of Microfibrillar / Microfibrillated cellulose (MFC). Exilva is a completely natural and infinitely sustainable performance enhancer that improves rheology and stability in product formulations.